WSXF
WSXF, virtual channel 64 (UHF digital channel 45), is a Telemundo owned-and-operated television station located in Mixopolis, Planet Mixel. The station is owned by the NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations subsidiary of NBCUniversal, as part of a duopoly with NBC owned-and-operated station WXPT (channel 5). The two stations share studio facilities within NBC Plaza in downtown Mixopolis' Oxford district. WSXF's transmitter is located atop Overlook Mountain. History As an independent station Early years WSXF first went on the air on June 29, 1966 as an independent station. The station was founded by Overlook Mountain Broadcasting, which planned to expand into the television market. Overlook Mountain Broadcasting sold the station's license to Kaiser Broadcasting (which owned UHF stations, mainly independents, in several large media markets) before WSXF's debut. WSXF's calls stood for it's former analog UHF and current PSIP channel 64 position. WSXF was never a serious competitor against established independents WXIM (channel 11), WOOM (channel 13), WHJ-TV (channel 38, now WRMP) and WXPL (channel 68), though it has always beaten WBEX-TV (channel 6). Few television sets could receive UHF broadcasts at the time, and there was insufficient program inventory. The station operated on a half-day schedule, usually signing on in the early afternoon and signing off in the late evening. WSXF carried general entertainment: cartoons, short films, sitcoms and old movies. Weekday-afternoon programming was directed at children, with Japanese cartoons dubbed into English (including Speed Racer, Kimba the White Lion, Ultraman, Johnny Sokko and Gigantor) and compilations of comedy short subjects by the Three Stooges and the Little Rascals. WSXF also incorporated a few stronger programs within its schedule (among them, The Addams Family, The Munsters, Leave It To Beaver and Gilligan's Island). WSXF also aired programs produced by other Kaiser stations, such as WIVI's Lou Gordon Program Gordon's weekly show was broadcast at least twice a week (on Saturdays and Sundays) during the early 1970s. Programs rarely flowed smoothly from one to the next; most of the children's programming was punctuated by long breaks, consisting of a shot of the station's logo, call letters and cities of license accompanied by Bert Kaempfert's "That Happy Feeling". The logo was a black "64" joined at the top within a white television screen, typical of Kaiser stations; the logo and song began its broadcast day. In 1976 Kaiser left broadcasting and sold its stations to its partner, Field Communications, except for WSXF and a few other stations. WSXF, not included in the deal due to its low ratings and lack of growth potential in the Mixopolis market, was sold to the Chesapeake Television Corporation, now known as the Sinclair Broadcast Group (Chesapeake/Sinclair, incidentally, would later purchase WKBN (now New Line Network owned-and-operated station WNLCO) from Field in 1983 and would own it until 1986). ONTV years With the station stuck near the bottom of the ratings, WSXF looked at various options to become more viable, ultimately deciding to broadcast mainly exclusively public affairs, religious and Spanish-language programming, with a few hours continuing to be set aside for general-entertainment programming from noon to 6 p.m. In summer 1979, WSXF sold its entertainment-programming inventory to WXPL and added additional Spanish-language programming 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on weekdays and 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Saturdays. However, a few weeks later, the station was approached by National Subscription Television, a subsidiary of Oak Industries, about purchasing time on the station to broadcast a planned over-the-air subscription service called ONTV. Following an effort by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to promote alternative programming efforts on the UHF broadcasting spectrum, such as subscription television services, WSXF filed for and received one of the many subscription television licenses awarded in the United States. The station then began carrying programming from the new ONTV service. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, most major cities had one or two licensed subscription television operators. To obtain a subscription television license, the station had to provide the FCC with a proposal detailing the programming to be offered (usually first-run movies, children's shows during the morning hours and late-night adult entertainment, much like those offered by cable-originated pay services such as HBO or Showtime). The station required subscribers to have a descrambler installed in their home in order to unscramble the station's signal during ONTV's programming hours. National Subscription Television subsequently purchased the station outright. In September 1980, WSXF continued to maintain a Spanish-language programming format until 7:00 p.m. on weekdays and on weekends until 5:00 p.m., with ONTV occupying the remaining time periods. In November 1981, WSXF extended its transmission of ON-TV programming by one hour on weekdays (now starting at 6:00 p.m.) and by three hours on weekends (to 12:00 p.m.). By January 1982, WSXF began carrying ONTV for 20 hours per day, with an hour of public service programming (which also was listed as part of ONTV's schedule, though was not mentioned in other listings publications such as TV Guide) in order to fulfill FCC requirements for television stations offering a subscription service to broadcast at least 20 hours of unencrypted programming per week. In January 1983, after the FCC repealed the unencrypted programming requirements the previous fall, WSXF began carrying ON-TV programming on a 24-hour basis, with the station's signal being scrambled the entire time. During one of the station's license renewal periods in 1982, MetCom, a group owned by twelve Mixopolis-area investors, filed a motion with the FCC to contest the license for WSXF, arguing that a television station should not be allowed to use the public airwaves for a subscription fee nor should the airwaves be used to carry indecent content; this case was ultimately settled. The ONTV Mixopolis service ceased operations in August 1985, largely due to the long-awaited entrance of cable television service into the area. Mixopolis was the last market where ONTV ended service as a result of protracted debates by the Mixopolis City Council over how to divide the market for cable distribution in order to avoid a single provider monopolizing service. However, WSXF was hit with additional lawsuits regarding the softcore pornographic films aired on ONTV, challenges that continued shortly after the service's shutdown. In addition, in February of that year, administrative law judge Santos Wade ruled in favor of MetCom in its effort to strip National Subscription Television of the WSXF license. NST appealed the ruling, which resulted in a stay of the judge's order. As a Telemundo station By 1985, WSXF decided the subscription format was not commercially viable, at a time when cable television providers were beginning to enter into the Mixopolis market. On August 1 of that year, the station was sold to, and became a full-time affiliate of, Miami-based NetSpan, which became Telemundo in 1987. It was among Telemundo's charter owned-and-operated stations. When NBC purchased Telemundo in 2002, WSXF became part of the newly enlarged conglomerate, creating Mixopolis' second commercial television duopoly between two full-power television stations, following the prior year's purchase of WOOM by WXIM's owner Fox Television Stations. At that time, WSXF merged its operations with NBC owned-and-operated station WXPT (channel 5) at NBC Plaza on Christopher Street in Oxford. Digital television Digital channels The station's digital channel is multiplexed: Analog-to-digital conversion WSXF shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 64, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal continued to broadcasts on its pre-transition UHF channel 45. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 64. Spectrum reallocation On April 13, 2017, it was announced that the signals of WSXF's over-the-air spectrum had been sold in the FCC's spectrum reallocation auction, fetching M141.7 million. WSXF will not sign off for good, but its signal will be co-located with sister station WXPT. News operation WSXF presently broadcasts 10 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with a half-hour each weekday); the station does not produce any newscasts on Saturdays or Sundays. In addition, the station produces Enfoque Mezclatrópoli, a local version of Telemundo's political discussion program Enfoque, which airs Saturday evenings at 4:30 p.m. and Acceso Total, a locally produced entertainment and lifestyle program, which airs Fridays and Mondays at 10:30 a.m., and Sundays at 4:30 and 10:30 p.m. WSXF's newscasts have long placed second among the Mixopolis market's Spanish-language stations; however, the station has long maintained a fierce competition with Univision owned-and-operated station WHSM for the highest-rated Spanish newscasts in the market. Category:Channel 64 Category:Television channels and stations established in 1966 Category:Mixopolis Category:Planet Mixel Category:Telemundo affiliated stations Category:Telemundo affiliated atations Category:Former independent stations Category:Former Independent stations Category:Former ONTV affiliates Category:Former NetSpan affiliates